Painless Java Config and Install for Linux

If you need to install Java on a Debian based Linux distribution, do yourself a favor and use a little shell script named oab-java6.

The oab-java script completely automates the setup of the necessary items for the installation of Java, it's damn simple to use and it completes the set up in just a couple of minutes (depending on the speed of your internet connection). The best part is that nothing gets installed until you actually install it via apt-get.

If you want to know more, then read the doc for oab-java6. It's a very quick read.

Direct Linux Kernel Input

CAUTION: Wicked powerful feature in Linux

I've worked with Linux since back around 1995 or 1996 and I was not aware of this feature until yesterday. Did you know that you can send commands directly into the Linux kernel via /proc/sysrq-trigger? You can instruct the kernel to perform such tasks as rebooting the kernel and crashing the system among many others. This winds up being very handy for testing purposes (and incredibly powerful).

Just don't invoke this command without first checking with your sysadmin or you might be heavily flogged.